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^ \\\yj  XXxv i c\ 

Is  it  worth 


the  price 


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THE  “TAX  BURDEN” 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


THE  University  is  asking  for  an  appropriation  of 
$10,500,000*  for  the  next  biennium  as  against 
$5,348,000  from  State  revenue  for  the  same  field  of 
operations  for  the  biennium  just  closing.  We  are 
asked,  properly,  why  so  large  an  increase  is  re- 
quested. It  should  not  be  granted  unless  it  can  be 
justified. 


The  Amount  Analyzed 

1.  Four  million  dollars  ($4,000,000)  a year  are 
asked  for  operation , maintenance , etc.^  including 
salaries  and  wages  of  all  existing  positions  and 
necessary  new  ones.  The  number  cn  the  salary 
and  wage  payroll  at  latest  count  was  1292.  We 
need  over  150  more. 

2.  Two  hundred  fifty  thousand  dollars  ($250,000) 
for  each  of  the  two  years  are  for  a new  Agricultural 
Building , sorely  needed. 

3.  One  million  dollars  ($1,000,000)  for  each  year 
are  to  erect  a new  Horticultural  Field  Laboratory >a 
unit  of  a new  Library , a Medical  Research  Labor- 
atory and  Library , a Cattle  Feeding  Plants  and 
other  buildings . All  are  necessary.  Most  have  been 
projected  and  planned  for  seven  or  eight  years  and 
nothing  has  been  done,  so  that  the  University 
buildings  not  only  have  not  kept  pace  with  the 
growth  of  student  attendance,  but  have  fallen  far 
behind. 


•This  sum  is  from  the  State.  It  does  not  include  oertain  Federal 
money  for  the  agricultural  work  passing  through  the  State  Treasurer, 
and  technically  “appropriated.”  nor  the  appropriation  to  pay  interest 
on  the  endowment  fund  of  the  University  provided  by  the  United  States 
and  taken  over  by  the  State  as  a trust. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  BULLETIN 

IssufP  Weekly 

Vol.  XVIII  M/trch  7, 1921  No.  27 

(Entered  as  second  class  matfer  December  11, 1912,  at  the  post  offloe 
at  Urbana.  Illinois,  under  the  Act  of  August  24.  1912,  Acceptance 
for  mailing  at  the  special  rite  of  postage  provided  for  in  section 
1103,  Act  of  October  3,  191?.  authorized  July  31,  1918.) 

PUBLISHED  BY  THE  ijNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS.  URBANA 


Tl^u-Dl 

4.  Of  the  whole  amount,  $5,400,000  for  the  bien- 
nium will  be  supplied  from  the  existing  mill  tax  fund 
and,  therefore,  causes  no  additional  tax  burden. 
The  balance  is  asked  for  out  of  general  revenue. 

Why  So  Much 

AN  adequate  answer  would  be  that  the  physical 
expansion  of  the  University  has  been  at  a 
standstill  so  that,  allowing  for  all  business  adjust- 
ments, its  needs  are  larger  than  even  the  amount 
asked  for. 

Prices — The  United  States  Labor  Bureau  shows 
that  in  January  1921  prices  of  food,  clothing,  housing, 
fuel,  light,  and  furnishings,  the  things  that  go  to 
make  up  the  mass  of  ordinary  expenditures,  were 
77  per  cent  higher  than  in  December  1914.  This 
figure  allows  for  the  recent  fall  of  prices.  The 
amount  requested  for  the  University  operation  is 
only  60  per  cent  more  than  before,  and  the  amount 
must  not  only  meet  any  increases  of  salaries  and 
wages  and  cost  of  materials,  supplies,  and  equipment, 
but  must  also  provide  for  new  teaching  and  other 
positions  necessitated  by  the  increased  enrollment 
and  for  additional  supplies  and  equipment.  The 
amount  does  not  by  any  means  all  go  into  salary 
and  wage  increases  as  some  people  seem  to  think. 

A second  answer  is  that  the  student  body  has 
doubled  in  ten  years,  while  the  State  appropriation 
has  increased  only  11  per  cent. 

A third  answer  is  that  the  demands  on  the  staff 
for  advice,  conference,  and  consultation  by  organiz- 
ations in  all  parts  of  the  State  have  doubled  or 
trebled. 

A fourth  answer  is  that  the  University  approp- 
riations have  not  increased  nearly  as  fast  as  the 
total  State  appropriations.  The  University's  per- 
centage share  in  the  State  appropriations  is  only 
half  what  it  was  ten  years  ago.  The  Educational 
Press  Bulletin , issued  by  the  State  Superintendent 
of  Public  Instruction,  for  February  shows  that, 
excluding  the  appropriations  for  the  State  Normal 
Schools,  for  vocational  education,  and  for  good 
roads,  the  amount  appropriated  by  the  General 
Assembly  in  1911  was  $14,829,087.  Of  this  amount, 
according  to  the  Bulletin,  the  University  got 
$2,402,500,  or  16.2  per  cent.  In  1919,  from  thesame 


source  the  corresponding  figures  were  $31,018,504 
and  $2,740,126*,  showing  the  University's  approp- 
riation to  be  8.8  per  cent  of  the  total.  The  ratio  of 
the  share  of  the  University  in  the  total  State  approp- 
riations has  decreased  nearly  50  per  cent.  In  other 
words,  while  the  University's  needs  have  been  growing 
with  other  needs  of  the  State,  they  have  been  met 
by  a decreasing  share  of  the  State  income.  The 
University  appropriation  has  been  a decreasing 
burden  in  comparison  with  other  demands. 

The  total  State  appropriation,  as  shown  above, 
has  increased  108  per  cent  since  1911,  while  that  to 
the  University  has  increased  10  per  cent  in  the  same 
period. 

What  Does  Each  One  Pay? 

THE  grand  total  of  taxes  levied  for  all  purposes  in 
Illinois  in  1915  was  $124,813,482.  Out  of  each 
dollar  the  University  got  two  and  1/20  cents. 

In  1919  the  total  sum  of  taxes  levied  was  $190, 
581,361.  Out  of  every  dollar  the  University  got  a 
cent  and  a half. 

The  per  capita  appropriation  for  the  University, 
based  on  population,  is  38  cents.  In  other  states  the 
per  capita  appropriation  for  carrying  the  same  lines 
of  work  as  the  University  of  Illinois  is  as  follows: 


Minnesota $1.38 

Iowa 1.32 

Wisconsin 1.14 

Michigan 1.06 

Ohio 55 

Illinois 38 


If  every  dollar  of  the  State  wealth  were  divided 
into  10,000  parts,  the  University  of  Illinois  would  be 
getting  3 1/3  of  these  parts,  while  for  corresponding 
work  Wisconsin  assigns  7 such  parts,  Minnesota  6%, 
Michigan  4 Ohio  3 2/3,  and  Iowa  3 1/5. 

Appropriations  Elsewhere  for  Similar 
University  Work — 1921-1923 

WE  should  not  determine  what  is  proper  for 
Illinois  to  do  merely  from  what  other  states  are 
doing,  yet  a comparison  of  the  activities  of  different 
states  is  helpful  and  suggestive. 

•These  figures  include  Federal  money  and  income  from  endow- 
ment. neither  of  which  is  properly  a State  tax  burden.  The  omission  of 
these  figures  would  show  an  even  less  favorabie  condition  for  the  Uni- 
versity. 


. z. 

In  some  States  the  College  of  Agriculture  and  the 
Experiment  Station  are  separate  institutions  from 
the  State  University,  so-called.  At  Illinois  they 
are  part  of  the  University . In  States  where  they 
are  separate,  the  appropriations  asked  for  are  com- 
bined here  for  comparison  with  ours.  The  aggregate 
request  in  Illinois  for  the  biennium  is  $10,500,000; 
in  Wisconsin,  $10,286,000,  aside  from  $998,529 
received  as  an  emergency  appropriation  last  winter; 
in  Michigan,  $18,350,000;  in  Minnesota,  $10,428,000, 
in  addition  to  an  emergency  appropriation  of 
$1,097,635;  in  Ohio,  $11,026,312;  in  Iowa,  $10,107,- 
994,  not  including  buildings;  in  California,  $13,719,- 
423.  One  illustration  of  an  endowed  institution  is 
Columbia.  Its  operating  budget  alone  in  1920-21 
was  $6,445,000;  in  1915-16,  only  five  years  before, 
it  was  $3,897,000. 


No  Deficit 

THE  University  of  Illinois,  confronted  with  un- 
paralleled difficulties,  will  finish  the  biennium 
without  a deficit.  It  will  do  so  because  it  has 
slaughtered  work  to  keep  within  its  income.  In 
some  other  States  deficiency  appropriations  are 
requested  for  the  university,  varying  from  $360,000 
to  over  $1,000,000. 

Decreasing  Per  Capita  Expenditure 
for  Instruction 

THE  expenditure  for  instruction  per  student,  ac- 
cording to  the  Comptroller  of  the  University,  was 
$251.87  in  1913-14  and  $236.33  in  the  current  year. 
Allowing  for  the  reduced  purchasing  power  of 
money  as  of  January  last,  the  actual  value  expend- 
iture for  instruction  per  student  this  year  is  $133.52 
or  only  47  per  cent  of  what  it  was  in  1913-14 . This 
is  a clear  indication  of  conditions  producing  ineffi- 
ciency; for  it  means  crowded  classes,  fewer  instruc- 
tors, less  equipment,  and  less  favorable  conditions  of 
work. 

Is  the  Money  Efficiently  Spent? 

YES.  At  the  head  of  the  business  organization 
of  the  University  is  the  Comptroller,  who 
is  a Certified  Public  Accountant.  Under  him  are 
an  Assistant  Comptroller,  a Bursar,  an  Auditor, 
and  a Purchasing  Agent.  Each  of  the  three  latter 
has  assistants,  with  the  necessary  number  of  clerks, 


stenographers,  and  bookkeepers,  the  total  n 
in  the  business  staff  being  thirty-six.  A divisi 
the  office,  with  a staff  of  six,  is  at  the  Me 
College.  In  addition,  there  is  a Treasurer  appo 
by  the  Board  of  Trustees,  and  recently  the  o 
Superintendent  of  Business  Operations  has 
created,  the  duty  of  the  incumbent  being  to 
the  President  informed  on  the  efficiency  of  the 
ness  operations  of  all  departments  of  the  Unive 


All  expenditures  are  made  on  requisitions 
approved  by  several  officers  and  only  afte 
Trustees  have  made  appropriations  for  the  resp 
purposes.  All  purchases  are  made  throug" 
Purchasing  Agent,  standard  articles  largely  i 
being  bought  in  quantities,  and  purchases  exc 
$100  are  let  by  contract  after  competition, 
articles  as  require  expert  judgment  are  boug' 
or  on  advice  of  the  experts  of  the  University, 
as  agents  of  the  Purchasing  Agent  and  the  C 
troller,  under  regular  procedure  and  due  auth 
Monthly  reports  are  made  by  the  Comptrolle 
the  Treasurer,  and  quarterly  financial  report 
published  in  the  minutes  of  the  Board  of  Trus 
Quarterly  audits  are  also  made  by  a Chicago  fi 
accountants. 


The  expenditures  of  the  University  are  in 
respects  unlike  those  of  many  other  public 
tutions.  Some  things,  like  paper  or  examin 
books,  are  standard  commercial  products, 
others  are  peculiar  to  each  department  an 
almost  infinite  variety.  The  former  class  of  su 
are  bought  in  the  open  market,  on  competitive 
at  the  lowest  prices.  The  latter  class  of  t' 
of  which  we  may  need  only  one  at  a time,  1 
microscope,  are  bought  by  our  Purchasing  De 
ment  under  expert  advice  in  the  best  market, 
buying  practise  in  these  respects  is  up-to-date 
sharply  watched. 


David  Ki 


